Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1887-09-03
OLD-TIME CHINA.
THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM AS 1T
APPEARED IN THE FORTIEs.
Scenes in the Harbor of Macao-The Ex-
clusiveness of the Chinese-scenery Along
the Chu-Kiang River-Popular Awe tx
cited by the Spectacle of a Steamboat.

cited by the Spectacle of Steamboat.
One who was fortunate enough to visit
the Celestial empire before the tinge of
Western civilization had made any i'm
preston upon its ancient regime has
always something of intense interest to
remember. 1t was DR.. Samuel johnson
who said that any man might be proud
of an ancestor who had beheld the
great wall of China. Even so may one
be gratified through life who himself has
set foot within the mighty empire which
for ages had known no shadow of change,
and who saw its people precisely the
same as in the days of Confucius.
1t was true that the first war with
England had just been concluded, and
humbled by the might of Great Britain
the Chinese Emperor had been forced to
submit to humiliating terms. The island
of Hong Kong had been absolutely
ceded as British colony, and four other
ports besides Canton had been forced
open to trade with the "outside barba-
rians." But for all the rest, the vast ter
ritory of China, with its hundreds of
millions of people, had not suffered the
slightest change. Japan and Corea were
still utterly inaccessible, and babe def
ance to the Celestials as completely as to
Europeans. There were then probably
not ten Cinnamon in the United States,
and Washee Washee, promenading the
streets of New York, would have had to
seek in the police protection for his pig
tail.
After tedious voyage of 40 days we
cast anchor in Macao roads. For 800
years had this little peninsula of Macao,
three miles long by one and a half broad,
been the only foothold allowed to Eu-
ropeans in all the vast Chinese empire,
excepting the few hundred yards of
space allotted to the foreign factories"
in Canton. Coded nominalty to Portu-
gal, but really always under "home
rule" Macao was governed by a petty
viceroy and marshaled by company of
soldiers, whose uniforms and bayonets
were the special hatred of the Chinese
rabble.
Itwas picturesque, poetic, dreamy old
settlement, environed with several hills,
crowned by antique forts and converts,
with several interesting churches built by
the Jesuits 200 years before, and long
line of commodious houses stretching
along the beach on which the sea waves
broke with gentle plash. This espla-
made, or "Praya Grande," as it was termed,
consisting of wide and level granite
walk, extended the whole length of
Macao, and at sunset was the favorite
resort of the Europeans, the unsoaped
Chinese being excluded from its pleas
ures. Very romantic and mysterious
looking were most of these old mansions
lining the pier, which in the days Of
Macao's commercial prosperity had
echoed with the glad sounds of many a
gay revel, and now, if truth were told,
were the scenes of quite too frequent in
terviews between the Portuguese women,
descendants of the old families resi-
dent in the place for generations, and
visiting strangers. However these
stories might be true or exagge-
rated. certainly I never saw any
locality SO suggestive of romantic Incl
dents in its aspects as old Macao, nor
worn out with adverse fate, might more
resignedly repair for rest from the
world. Such must often 800 years be-
fore have been the feeling of the illus
trious Camoens, the great poet of Portu-
gal, who here wrote the larger part Of
his immortal epic, "The Lusiad," in
grotto looking out upon the inner har-
Dor, which spot is still carefully pre-
served and entitled "Camoens' cave" 1t
is impossible in visiting this scene to re-
press pity and indignation for the fate
of the poet and hero, exiled from an I'M
grateful country to which he gave the
proudest work of its literature in return
at last for actual starvation. May not
his happy spirit be sometimes now per-
mitted to revisit the scene of his labOrs,
with forgiveness for all his sufferings
Such must be my brief sketch of old
Macao, the favorite summering place of
Europeans, when not foreign woman
was allowed to set foot in Canton, and
when Hong Kong was only lurking place
for Chinese pirates. In those days not
single steamer navigated the waters OF
the Chu- Kiang river, between Macao and
Canton, and there was not a single light
house on the whole coast of China. The
very idea of railroad, much less of the
electric telegraph, had never dawned
upon the Chinese mind. Communica-
ton between the ports was only to be
had in the native craft. For distant
routes the great numbering junks,
fashioned after Noah's ark, were en-
ployed by the native traveller, while
smaller boats, with or without sails,
served the purpose of short trips. We
sailed in our own ship from Macao up
the wide estuary of the lower Canton
river, in charge of Chinese pilot, at
every mile becoming more interested in
the wonderful scenery that opened be-
fore us, and in the evident busy life of a
vast empire as shown in the innumerable
crafts which fitted by in all directions.
At the entrance to the river proper is
the "Bogue," or "Boca Tigres," the
Tigers mouth, so-called by the Portu-
guese, an immensely strong natural
barrier of precipitous granite cliffs,
which in the hands of any European
power would be almost impregnable
They were heavily fortified, but then
wholly in Chinese fashion, no bastions
or fianking fires. In the long, low walls
composing them l counted 1866 cannon
in single row, but all the forts offered
little resistance to the British men-of-
war, and their garrisons fed precipi-
lately up the steep rocks when the
enemy's bombs fell among them. By